


Zero Visibility

by goldpeak



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2016!Dan, Airplane, Awkward Dan, Comforting Phil, Consoling Phil, Cuddly Dan, Cuddly Phan, Cuddly Phil, Dan Howell - Freeform, Dan has Scary Thoughts, Dan is Afraid, Dan is Scared of Flying, Emergency Landing, Established Phan, Flying, Lightning - Freeform, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phandom - Freeform, Phil Lester - Freeform, Protective Phil, Rain, Reassuring Phil, Scared Dan, Shy Dan, Snuggly Dan, Snuggly Phil, Storms, Stormy Weather, cuddly, hail, hand holding, phanfic, planes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:19:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8569378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldpeak/pseuds/goldpeak
Summary: Dan's already terrified of the 9-hour flight from London to Chicago. In fact, he hates planes, he hates flying - he hates everything to do with either of those things. So when they run into some problematic weather and have to make an emergency landing, it's no wonder that Dan think's he's going to die. Not to worry, Phil's there to help him through his terror with some reassuring touches and loving words.





	

I’ve always been a nervous flier. Even though my rational side keeps telling me that flight is the safest way of travel, the little fear that everyone has hanging out on the sidelines that says ‘you’re gonna die today!’ has a habit of taking over my mind entirely.  
“Phil, what if we’re hijacked? What if we run out of fuel in the middle of the ocean? What if the cabin doesn’t pressurize correctly? What if-,” I started to list quite a few un-probable circumstances, and was about to list another when Phil cut me off with a chaste kiss to my lips.  
“We’ll be fine. If you keep saying stuff like that, you’ll make me nervous!” Phil teased, linking his fingers with mine. I smiled and bit my tongue, but that didn’t stop all the thoughts from racing around my mind.  
‘What if the wing is torn off? Oh, God, what if a drunk passenger tries to open the door in flight? Would that cause explosive decompression? Can someone even open the door from that high up? Is it locked? What if they forget to lock it? What if the pilot falls asleep? What if one of the flight attendants turns rabid, pulls out a pistol, and kills everyone? What if the engines flame out? What if the hydraulic system fails? What if the flaps get stuck? What if the rudders don’t work? What if the computers fail?’ My head begun to ache slightly and I cursed mentally. ‘Goddammit Dan, you gave yourself a headache.’  
I was tugged back into reality by Phil as he walked a few paces up in the boarding line. I grabbed my boarding pass from my pocket and passed it to the gate agent. She scanned mine and Phil’s, then gave them back, and smiled fake-like. “Have a good flight.”  
Phil, being the nice guy he was, said, “Thanks!” I merely flashed her a half-hearted smile.  
I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead as we walked down the jet bridge. I flew so much, between family holidays, holidays with Phil, TATINOF, the book signing tour and even a few times for BBC; you’d think I’d be used to it by now.  
We stepped onto the plane and I felt my heart rate increase, if even possible. Phil squeezed my hand reassuringly, but let go as he shuffled up the narrow aisle. We were on a big plane; there were three rows of three seats, one on the left side of the plane, one on the right side, and one on the middle.  
I had booked the flight, and therefor chosen our seats. when doing so, I took into account the safest place to sit on this specific kind of aircraft. By that, I mean I spent an hour browsing travel blogs and factual reports from airline news companies. It’s said that on a Boeing 777-200, the plane we were on, the safest place is seat 24A, over the wing on the left side of the plane. Someone also recommended United Airlines, and there we were, three weeks later, on a United Airlines Boeing 777-200, bound for Chicago.  
We finally reached our row. I slipped in first and sat down at the window seat, shoving my black carry-on bag under the seat in front of me. Phil and I had checked our suitcases so we wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle of putting them in the overhead bins.  
Phil sat down in the middle with a sigh, putting his backpack away as well.  
“Nervous?” he asked me, looking at me sympathetically.  
“Mhmm,” I murmured, opening the window shade to look outside. It had been pouring when we got to the airport, but now the rain had subsided and gave way to a thick covering of clouds. I continued to stare out the window and Phil linked our hands, resting them on the armrest between us.  
Ten minutes later, I heard one of the flight attendants begin to speak over the intercom.  
“Welcome aboard United Airlines flight 959, bound for Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. If O’Hare wasn’t already in your travel plans, it will be once we close the boarding doors so act accordingly. There are eight exit doors on this aircraft. Please look around the cabin and familiarize yourself with the door closest to you,” she said.  
I paid close attention to the safety speech, even though I had it almost memorized. When she finally finished the demonstration, and went to sit down, I let out a shaky breath.  
“It’ll be okay,” Phil reassured me, rubbing my arm. I smiled appreciatively at him before gasping when the plane jolted into action.  
We slowly started to move backwards as one of the tugs pushed us away from the gate. A few seconds later we begun to swivel around, before coming to a complete stop.  
“Hello, this is your pilot speaking. We’re scheduled for an on-time take-off, though we will be landing in Chicago a little later than scheduled as we have had to alter our flight plan due to bad weather,” he said. I couldn’t see myself, but I was sure that I had just turned an unnatural shade that could only be described as ‘sheet white.’  
‘Weather. The one thing I didn’t worry about is the one thing that might be a problem.’  
“We will be flying at a slightly faster airspeed than planned to make up for that, though.”  
‘What happens when a plane is struck by lightning?’  
“Our expected arrival time is 5:39 PM, local time.”  
‘Will hail shatter the windows? Or dent the metal? Can the engine blades break from that?’  
“If we can do anything to improve your United Airlines experience please don’t hesitate to let us know. Now sit back, relax and enjoy the flight.”  
“We’re going to be fine, Dan? Okay?” Phil said softly, kissing my cheek.  
“Okay...”  
“Is he a nervous flier?” For the first time, the person in the aisle seat spoke up. Phil just nodded in her direction before turning his attention back to me.  
We slowly started to roll towards the runway. We turned a few times and I tried to focus on the dull roar of the engines as an attempt to suck myself away from reality.  
“I was a nervous flier once,” the girl continued. I sighed.  
“Sorry, you seem nice, but my boyfriend here would probably appreciate silence as would I,” Phil said. I almost gasped; I had never heard Phil speak like that. I kind of liked it.  
“Ugh, boyfriend?” she sneered. “Fine, whatever.”  
Phil rolled his eyes and let go of my hand, but only so he could wrap his arm around my shoulders. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down as we lined up with the centerline on the runway.  
“It’ll be fine,” Phil started an attempt to calm me down again but the engine roar soon drowned out his voice as the plane began to accelerate. I swallowed nervously, gripping the armrests with my hands. My knuckles soon turned white. I kept my eyes glued to the window, even though I wanted badly to look away.  
‘What if another plane crashes into us? What if the tail hits the ground and keeps us from climbing? What if the engines fail right now? What if we fly into a flock of birds?’  
Ten seconds later, the plane tilted sharply as we all felt the nose lift off the runway.  
3...2...1...  
Then, we were fully airborne. Our speed slowed noticeably as we rose into the air, and I panicked for a short moment.  
‘Did the engines fail? Why are we slowing? Are we going to fall?’  
“Dan? Dan!” I was jolted back into the real world as Phil shook my arm violently. “You were shaking. are you alright?”  
“No,” I whimpered, looking away from the window and burying my face into Phil’s shoulder. He rubbed my back comfortingly, whispering soothing things into my ear. “I’m such a baby.”  
“It’s okay babe, everyone’s afraid of something. You’re just afraid of flying. It’s alright.”  
...  
“Hello again, this is your pilot speaking...”  
I jolted awake. My head shot up off of Phil’s shoulder, where it had been resting.  
“Due to worsening weather around O’Hare, we have begun to circle the airport...”  
‘Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.’  
Phil tightened his grip around my shoulders and kissed my cheek again. “It’s okay. We’ll be fine.”  
“We will continue to circle until the weather clears up. Our arrival time is unknown at this moment.”  
I took a deep breath and placed my head back on Phil’s shoulder. “I’m scared.”  
“I know, love.”  
...  
“Our on-board systems have alerted us that we are running very, very low on fuel, so we have declared an emergency. We are descending and will be making an emergency, 0-visiblilty landing. Flight attendants, please be seated for landing. This will be a bumpy one.” The grainy intercom clicked off as the pilot stopped speaking.  
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I slurred, the words blending together as sheer terror dominated my brain. Images of us running off the runway and exploding into flames filled my mind. I felt my head start to spin as the world around me turned blurry.  
“Dan? What the...? Are you okay?” Phil asked, but his voice seemed far away and faint.  
I felt like I was about to pass out when my senses were jerked back into the real world by a heated kiss on the lips from none other than Phil Lester.  
We broke away from each other and I took deep, long breaths as I tried to calm myself. The plane pitched side-to-side as wind battered against its sides as we descended through the clouds – and were the engines getting quieter? Or was that my imagination because they definitely seemed quieter. Finally, we broke through the last cloud and moments later, a horrible grinding noise could be heard as the landing gears were lowered. The flaps on the wings extended and we slowed down. An awful pitter-patter noise accompanied the multitude of sounds on board as the rain lashed at the skin of the plane. Lightning lit up in the distance and for just a second the airport was visible. Planes were sitting on the tarmac and taxiways – there didn’t even seem to be room for even one more plane. How were we going to get to a gate? Or were we just going to sit on the taxiway for hours until we’re struck by lightning and everyone dies?  
Thunder rumbled, and within seconds another bolt of lightning lit up the sky. This one was a lot closer to us.  
“Phil...” I murmured quietly, not able to take my eyes off of the window. “I love you.”  
“We aren’t going to die, Dan. But, I love you too.”  
“Brace! Brace! Brace!” The intercom yelled.  
I immediately assumed the brace position, leaning over as far as I could and covering my neck with my hands.  
Five seconds later, the main gears of the plane hit the runway - for the first time. Some people let out screams as we rose back into the air before slamming down again. Something shattered, and I found myself praying that, whatever it was, it wasn’t vital to our survival. We rose up again, before smashing back down with a sickening crack. The loud roar of the reverse thrust sounded and the flaps creaked as they were pushed to their maximum. Everyone in the cabin was nearly thrown into the seats in front of them as the plane tried its best to come to a stop. Five seconds later and we were still rolling. Ten seconds, and we were slowing down. Fifteen seconds, and we stopped. I looked out the window and didn’t even see any airport buildings. I looked in front of the wing and saw grass. We’d almost rolled off the runway.  
“Please remain seated as caption kangaroo bounces our plane to the gate!”  
...

**Author's Note:**

> I have mixed feelings about this one. It's my first time posting anything Phan on this website. Hope everyone enjoys. If you see any typos or mistakes please leave a comment telling me what and where the mistake is!


End file.
